Blink and you may miss them. These small Sonoma Valley wineries want to change that.

Drive through Kenwood along Highway 12 and you may get distracted by the bucolic view — a seasonal spectacle of flourishing grapevines, fertile grasslands and the impressive Sugarloaf Ridge.

What’s less conspicuous, however, is the small business complex known as Kenwood Village, with modest brown buildings that go nearly unnoticed in the rustic landscape.

That can make things challenging for the five boutique wineries that reside here and are often overlooked in favor of more recognizable brands with nearby wineries, such as the historic Kunde Family Winery, the luxurious Ledson Winery & Vineyards and the beautiful Chateau St. Jean.

“The biggest challenge is getting people to walk through the door,” said Matt Duffy, owner and winemaker at Vaughn Duffy Wines, which opened in Kenwood Village in 2021. “We try to remain optimistic that we can succeed out here and attract visitors. But every year seems to get more challenging.”

For Duffy, whose Russian River Valley pinot noir took home the top prize at the 2023 North Coast Wine Challenge, business has increased somewhat, especially among locals who have been eager to join his wine club.

But for Vaughn Duffy Wines and the other four wineries located here — Ty Caton Vineyards, Hamilton Family Wines, Seamus Wines and Fathia Wines — getting passed over for the larger, shinier tasting rooms in Kenwood and Glen Ellen has become a discouraging reality.

Tasting-room visitation is down industry-wide, which doesn’t help. While many U.S. wineries saw a boost in visitor traffic once pandemic restrictions were lifted in 2021, the most recent Wine Business Monthly Tasting Room Survey reports U.S. wineries saw an 8% decline in visitor traffic in 2022 compared to 2021. Fortunately, the smallest decline was in Sonoma County, where traffic fell just 4% overall.

The largest U.S. wineries, producing more than 500,000 cases a year, saw a bigger drop in tasting-room traffic — 14%, according to Wine Business Monthly.

Community Benchmark, a company that aggregates winery tasting room and sales data from 500 winery clients, said the decline was even more dramatic in the first four months of this year. Wineries in California, Oregon and Washington state saw an almost 22% decline in visitor traffic in their tasting rooms, compared to a year earlier.

Given that tasting-room sales are responsible for nearly half a winery’s revenue, according to Wine Business Monthly’s tasting-room report, slow foot traffic can have a big effect.

Now, in a move to bring more visibility to boutique wineries in the region, Vaughn Duffy and nine other wineries in Kenwood and Glen Ellen have joined forces to form the Sonoma Valley Small Wineries Collective. They plan to share promotional resources while educating consumers on the rewards of wine tasting at small, independent wineries.

“We like to think we offer a more old-school wine tasting experience that focuses on the wine, our story and connecting with people,” Duffy said. “Our customers can get as much attention as they want, and our tasting fees are much lower — just $20. I imagine this is how things used to be.”

While the collective is still in its infancy, Duffy said, they’re already brainstorming ways to work together, such as creating a tasting pass to cross-promote each other and hosting collaborative wine-tasting events.

“We’re still figuring out all the details, but we’re all committed to making this work,” Duffy said. “The wine business is something that happens over years, so it’s going to take time for the collective to get to know each other. The main thing is that everyone is willing to work together.”

To learn more about the Sonoma Valley Small Wineries Collective, visit sonomavalleysmallwineries.com.

You can reach Staff Writer Sarah Doyle at 707-521-5478 or sarah.doyle@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @whiskymuse.